In pictures: Life in lawless Helmand

Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province is well-known for insurgent attacks and widespread opium cultivation.

Rod Wyatt spent over a year there providing farmers with alternatives to opium. He sent these pictures of daily life in this harsh region.

When you fly overhead, you wonder what could possibly be down there. It looks like nothingness, no lights, no roads. When you get there, it really is like that. It’s a desolate place, a dustbowl, where life is very tough.